Not Opart of the Regular Thai Rotation

I took a day to recover from the craziness of Tru, tacos, and hitchhiking before getting back into the swing of things.  I figured we could do something simple and head out to a Thai place.  I wanted to try somewhere new, so after much debate, I ended up going to the Opart Thai House.  Opart Thai House is located at 4658 N. Western Ave. and their website is http://www.opartthai.com/. 

It got very good reviews on Yelp, so I figured that it could be a challenger from the current king of Thai food, Ben's Noodle & Rice.  I drove there and was pleasantly surprised that there was ample parking in the area.  We walked up to the place and realized that this place, while not terribly crowded, had a huge dining room.  We were seated in the front of the restaurant even though there was no one else in the same room as us.  That was a bit disconcerting.

The waitress power-walked up to us and immediately demanded to know what we wanted.  It was a bit snippy, but we had our orders in mind, so we put in the order.  We ordered egg rolls and chicken pad thai.  I always like to do standard orders the first time I go to a restaurant because I figure if they cannot manage to get a simple dish correct, they aren't worth trying for something more complex. 

The egg rolls came out and they looked nicely golden brown and they were predictably served with delicious delicious thai sweet and sour sauce.  I bit in and the outside was crisp and delicious, but the inner filling was bland and uninspiring.  Of course, if you put enough sweet sour sauce on it, it will be tasty, but it certainly was not that good standing on its own. 

Feeling a little bit let down by the mediocre egg rolls, I anxiously awaited the pad thai.  I figured as long as the main dish was good, I could simply avoid egg rolls in the future.  The dish was hastily served by our waitress (who was kind of a jerk for no reason).  I took note that the noodles were more brown than orange.  Usually that is a good sign that the pad thai will not be too sweet (a fatal flaw in many pad thais).  I bit in, expecting a burst of savory flavor, but I was taken aback by the flood of sweetness that poured out of the noodles.  Dismayed, I squeezed every possible drop of juice out of the lime that they gave me to counteract the intense sweetness, but it was of no use.  The pad thai was simply too sweet to be saved.  I also did not like that they did not bring out any chili paste for mixing, but I suppose I could have asked (even though the waitress was a jerk).

Opart Thai ended up being about $3 less than I usually spend at Ben's, but it was nowhere near as good as Ben's pad thai.  I suppose the food was not terrible, but when it comes to Thai food, I have very high standards.  I will not be returning to Opart Thai House.  Here is a picture of the pad thai.